Colin Davis Tribute – review

Originally this LSO date was to have been conducted by Colin Davis, the ­ensemble's president and former ­long-term principal conductor, but ­following his death in April, it turned into a memorial tribute by the ­orchestra with which he was most closely ­associated over his long career. ­Violinist Nikolaj Znaider, due to ­perform the Mendelssohn concerto under Davis, became both soloist and director of the ­replacement piece, Mozart's Third Concerto.

While Znaider's solo ­playing was as measured and ­stylish as usual, his direction of the ­orchestra could have done with the ­perceptive eye for ­detail of a master ­Mozartian such as Davis. His later ­conducting of Brahms' ­funerary Nänie, which the ­London ­Symphony Chorus flooded with ­resplendent tone, also took a while to ­cohere ­before ­rising ­steadily in an ­increasingly grand arc.

Opening the ­programme and ­recalling Davis's ­commitment to teaching young ­musicians, brass players from the Royal Academy of ­Music and the Guildhall School ­delivered a rousing ­account of Strauss's Festmusik der Stadt Wien ­under Patrick Harrild, its shining ­fanfares ­emphasising that the concert was as much ­celebration as memorial.

Davis's son, Joseph Wolfe, ­conducted a blazing interpretation of Berlioz's ­Corsair overture, in which the LSO strings were at their silkiest, notably representing the composer whose ­reputation Davis did more than ­anyone to raise to its current height; and a ­piercingly tender interpretation of ­Elgar's Sospiri, a work Davis wanted to conduct but never got around to.

Yet the item that left the greatest ­impression was Beethoven's ­Symphony No 8 – the piece that inspired the ­teenage Davis to take up music as a ­profession – which the LSO's leader, Gordan Nikolitch, directed with the odd nod and a wink while seated. It took off instantly, and remained exhilaratingly airborne throughout.